The present invention relates generally to the field of image rendering and image segmentation. More particularly, the invention relates to the identification of pixels in a digital image that are part of a desired grouping or item for identification of the grouping or item boundary.
A range of applications exist for digital image rendering. In one set of applications, a two-dimensional (2D) image is displayed on a computer screen and specific items visible in the image are segmented for tagging in a display or web protocol. The tagging permits information relating to the items to be called up for display by a user. Such tagging may create so-called “hot links” to the related information on a part or assembly. Increasing interest exists in the field of information systems for such hot linking, particularly for catalogs, manuals, and so forth. However, many other applications exist for similar linking to related information relating to specific image items, such as in the medical field.
A difficulty encountered in segmenting portions of an image for such linking, and for other purposes, involves the process of identification of a polygon that describes the item boundaries. Conventionally, such boundaries have been defined manually in an extremely time-consuming process. The resulting cost of boundary identification for such tagging has severely limited the degree to which such 2D image element hot linking has been used. Complex algorithms have been devised for identification of element boundaries. However, their complexity and relative computational inefficiency also makes them limited in their use.
A need exists, therefore, for improved approaches to identification of boundaries of image objects. There exists a particular need that can be implemented in a straightforward manner and that is computationally efficient.